Atkinson acclaimed in Rosedale

The newly acclaimed reeve of the Rural Municipality of Rosedale said he ran for office partly because of the wind turbine project that has been proposed in the area.

Matthew Atkinson told the Sun on Thursday he wants to ensure “good governance” if the Fleury Winds project moves ahead in the RM north of Neepawa.

Atkinson — who was acclaimed reeve after no other candidates registered before nominations closed on Tuesday — is slated to lead council from 2026-30, when the Manitoba Métis Federation hopes to roll out the massive infrastructure project in the area.

“It definitely influenced my decision,” Atkinson, a farmer in the Neepawa area, said in a phone interview. “I want to ensure that it’s a proper process that is followed and everybody who deserves a say gets a say.”

Atkinson said the wind turbine project “forced” him to engage with the local municipal council, and he then decided to try to upgrade it.

“I saw there was opportunity for improvement there.”

The wind turbine proposal has been pitched for land in the RMs of Rosedale and Minto-Odanah. The MMF announced the proposal in April, outlining a plan for a total of 28-36 wind turbines in the hills surrounding Polonia.

Atkinson walked on stage during an open house after the announcment and called for everybody’s attention, scrutinized the MMF’s processes and initiated a group question-and-answer discussion.

“I don’t think it’s all that transparent,” Atkinson said to the room of roughly 80 people. “That’s the problem I have with this. It’s not a consultation, it’s a bunch of side questions that are off the record.”

In an interview following his time on stage, Atkinson said he did not want turbines in sight.

“I definitely bias on the side of, ‘I don’t want it in my view,’” Atkinson told the Sun at the time. “And I worry about how it affects everybody’s property values.”

Weeks later, he told CBC, “We will be prepared to push as hard as we can to prevent this from happening.”

Atkinson said on Thursday that he has never taken a stand for or against the wind turbine project.

“If you’re asking if my goal as a reeve is to kill the idea of a proposal, no,” Atkinson said. “My frustrations were around a lack of transparency, a lack of proper order of communication and consultation.”

He said his goal is to ensure “good governance” and “proper process” if the project moves forward.

Manitoba Hydro is poised to choose in the spring of 2027 whether Fleury Winds will go forward as the first 200 megawatts of wind energy of the utility’s desired 600 megawatts by 2035. The utility will select its preferred wind energy proponent from a list of 11 that were shortlisted this year.

Wind turbine proposals near Carroll and Swan Lake First Nation are also competing to provide the first 200 megawatts.

David Chartrand, president of the MMF, said on Thursday that he had spoken with Atkinson in the past two weeks and did not think the incoming reeve will be adversarial toward the project.

“I think Matthew was more concerned about getting more clarity,” he told the Sun in a phone interview. “I think that’s a sort of misunderstanding out there. I don’t think Matthew is fighting against the wind power being established, especially the investments that will come in that area.”

Chartrand said he believes there is a convincing business case for the community, as payments to farmers to host turbines on their land provide a great opportunity while farmers are having a difficult time in Manitoba. He cited tariffs and trade difficulties as a strain on farmers’ bottom line.

“At the end of the day, I believe he will see, and many others are seeing already, it’s a win-win for everyone. And it’s definitely something that’s needed economically.”

Chartrand also said the project would generate useful revenue for the RM.

“One of the challenges any reeve leader will face is how do you raise revenue to try to keep the taxes down in that area and to try to provide services to the people,” he said.

He added that he has high hopes for the Fleury Winds project to be selected to provide energy to Manitoba Hydro.

“I feel very confident we will win our 200 megawatts.”

Atkinson said there are some regulations he would like to review should the project go forward — including safety standard and the windmills’ distance from homes.

“I think it’s time to re-examine the setbacks that are required from residences,” he said. “I also think it’s important to make sure that there’s proper measures in place for things like fire suppression on them.”

He said he believes rules are outdated in the RM surrounding building codes and planning permissions.

As a board member of the Canadian Cattle Association and a past president of the Manitoba Beef Producers, Atkinson said he believes his experience dealing with policy and procedure will be useful for serving as reeve.

“I think that those skill-sets in the process of how you properly make decisions and work through conflicts, I think, apply well in this situation.”

Residents formed a group in opposition to the turbine project following the April open house — and this summer a spokesperson said the the group had sent upwards of 20,000 physical letters of objection to government officials. The group also produced signs reading, “Say no to Rosedale windmills. Not here! Not ever!” and posted them around the community.

The RM of Rosedale saw acclamations in five out of six council seats this week. Atkinson was not part of the previous council. An election will take place for the Ward 4 seat, with candidates Boniface Sawchuk and Jordan Sawchuk facing off.

The RM of Minto-Odanah, where the Fleury Winds turbines have also been proposed, has six candidates running for four council seats. The RM reduced its seats from six to four this year. Three new candidates are in the race, as well as three incumbents. Coun. Barry Cook is running for reeve against a new candidate, Keith Syslak.

The election takes place on Oct. 28.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com